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Leg Post 56
Leg Post 56 takes place pre-Atlantean-explosion. A Borean woman, Leto, wanted to become human and leave Hyperborea, which currently resided on the Earth. She took human form and severed her link to the Hyperborean God and took the physical appearance of Epona. In Atlantis she met Zeus and spent a romantic weekend with him, which resulted in pregnancy. When she told Ares, Zeus' son, he told his mother, Hera. Hera kidnapped Ilithyia, god of childbirth, and formed a pact with her so that Leto could never give birth on any land of Earth. Leto searched the world for somewhere to give birth for many months, even past term. Eventually, the Roman God Salacia took pity and, with an escort from her son Triton, set for Lemuria. In the queendom of Kumari Kandam they were able to find the floating island of Tenmaturai. Because it was floating in the sky, it was not part of the land and she was able to give birth in the hospital of the ziggurat. Artemis was born, fully grown, and warned that her brother was to come next. Apollo was also born as a man, with the gift of futur-sight. He saw his mother's death, she being mortal, and became upset but Leto assured them they would have the best forty years ahead of them before that time. Post In the era considered 'pre-history' by modern civilisations there was, in fact, a hell of a lot of history going on. It's just that we have forgotten it all. Partly this is because younger generations just don't understand what it was like 'back in the day' and the 'youth don't appreciate the sacrifices made' and so young people just stopped listening to their parents and all of said history was lost. The other reason is because there was a bloody great big explosion caused by the stupid idiots of Atlantis. Magistarr: "Oi! I'll have you know--" Don't 'oi' me, get out of this post! Hyperborea was the frozen land that made its temporary home on the planet Earth, west of Atlantis where now stand the British Isles, where the Boreans lived their unusual, alien lives quite apart from the native, sapient species of the world. They would sometimes interact with the magical beings of Albion, the Aes Sidhe, who had ventured down the secret paths from their other-dimensional homeworld and found their way into the physical realm. They shared knowledge of aether, of magic, of the universe. But one Borean felt she was different to everyone else. Magistarr: "Here comes the, 'I'm so special and different and unique' trope!" I said, get out of this post! Besides, you are one of the crowning Mary SuesMary Sue article, Wikipedia., don't you lecture me! Plus, I don't even think you were born yet, so stop existing! Anyway. This Borean was named Leto and she enjoyed the company of the humans of Earth far more than she did her own people. The Boreans communicated through the network of their minds and their lives were constantly attached to their god, the colossal orb at the centre of Hyperborea, but Leto liked to cut herself off from the hive and live as an individual. She liked to use her words and speak to the humans and the Aes Sidhe in their own languages. Eventually, she made the incredible decision to leave Hyperborea and become a mortal human being. With the power of god, she created a human body. She based the body on the god Epona, who took care of the horses of Europe and Atlantis. To this end her head was worn in a brown bob - long hair plaited and then looped around her head. Her face was narrow with a pointed chin that gave her slightly equine features. Her eyes were blue and the lashes very long, giving her eyes a dark and deep appearance. Her legs were long and strong while the rest of her body was lithe and fit. She abandoned her Borean form and entered the human, instantly finding herself cut off from her people forever after. Though excited and thrilled with her new life, she would admit the sudden lonely feeling that permeated her mind. To compensate, she became an active and enthusiastic talker and meeter of strangers. She made many friends and acquaintances and soon started to hold grand parties in her Atlantean home - parties that featured plenty of knock-off brands, which were oddly popular amongst the Atlanteans. Instead of Coca-ColaCoca-Cola article, Wikipedia., there was Choka-Chola - commonly abbreviated to 'choke' because it was practically poisonous - instead of Jack DanielsJack Daniel's article, Wikipedia., there was Jeff Daniels - often cited as the unwanted younger brother of Jack - and instead of Papa John'sPapa John's article, Wikipedia., there was Papa Jeff's - the original founder of which was constantly telling people he was not Jeff Daniels. There was still, however, the original brand of LiptonLipton article, Wikipedia. when it came to tea, because Lipton already sucks and couldn't get any worse. With the constant deluge of knock-off brands, the lawyers of Atlantis would struggle with each generation to find loopholes and get the products made legal. Sometimes the gods of various religions would visit Atlantis and may attend one of her parties. It was there that Zeus, brought to the party by his son, Ares, met with Leto and was instantly enamoured with her. Leto had yet to experience this particular side to humanity and was extremely eager to indulge, leading to a very passionate weekend. Unfortunately it was over much sooner than she would have hoped and he had to leave. It wasn't for another three weeks before Leto realised there was something wrong with her body. She went to see one of the Atlantean doctors, who tested her and discovered she was pregnant. It took just a few minutes, using advanced Atlantean magi-tech, to deduce this but took several hours to explain what children are to the woman who was never actually born and didn't know where babies came from. Leto was incredibly excited at the prospect of meeting a new human, even if it would be really small. However the doctor explained that this was a demi-god and she wasn't entirely human, so the resulting offspring could be anything from a normal human baby, to a fucking weird monster-alien beast that would devour the planet. He then patted her on the back and sent her on her way. The doctor had explained that offspring tended to have some of its parent's qualities and so Leto was certain her monster-alien beast would be extremely nice and she could be friends with it. Even if it would try to eat her sometimes. Next time she saw Ares she, not knowing of any etiquette on the matter, told him how his father had gotten her pregnant. Ares, tattle-tale that he is, didn't go to his father but, instead, went to his mother - Hera. Hera snarled and almost impaled Ares with a spear when he told her. Hera, however, came up with a plan. She kidnapped another god, Ilithyia the god of childbirth. With Ilithyia as her 'guest', Hera ensured that certain terms were made for poor Leto and her pregnancy. She could not give birth on any land of Earth, ensuring that the woman would remain in a permanent state of pregnancy for the rest of her days. Pleased with her scheme, Hera bound Ilithyia to the pact on pain of being forced to listen to "The Birdie Song"Chicken Dance article, Wikipedia. on repeat for a whole day. It wasn't death, but after an entire day of 'with a little bit of this and a little bit of that and shake your bum', she would be longing for death's embrace. Ares, ever the tattle-tale, explained all of this to Leto when she found she had not given birth even after nine months had passed. She travelled by sea to find land that she could give birth on, hoping there would be somewhere that was overlooked by this pact. She had half-expected that she might give birth on a ship, since it was not land, but it sailed on the sea and that was part of the Earth. She would stare up at the sky and wonder if this planet would one day invent flying ships she could birth on. Pity came in the form of Salacia, god of saltwater. She was a pretty young women with incredibly white and fresh-looking skin, as though she had just been scrubbed clean. Her blonde hair was tight to her head, constantly wet, and cut short. She wore an unusual garment that hadn't been invented yet - a bikini. She came upon Leto's ship as it was passing the boot of Europe, which would one day become Italy, and vowed to aid the unfortunate woman in her labour. She knew of a land that was not attached to the Earth. Initially Leto thought Salacia meant to take her into space and land on another planet, something the Boreans had done many times in the past, but Salacia actually meant a literal floating island. They travelled across the oceans, aided by the favourable currents created by Salacia. Their ship was escorted by a small army of merfolk, led by Salacia's son Triton - king of the merfolk. With his trident he fended off any foul sea monsters that strayed near, sea monsters being surprisingly common in pre-history and the later classical era for some odd reason. In time they reached the shores of the ancient continent of Lemuria. Though humans had evolved from apes on the continent of Africa, their first and greatest settlements had been on the continent of Lemuria. The continent had tenuous land bridges connecting it to the Middle-East and a long one that stretched from India. The people were black-skinned and black-haired, having evolved in the heat of Africa, and their cities could rival even the cities of the modern world. Their civilisation was ancient even when Atlantis was founded. However that age had become its burden as the civilisation had become decadent, conservative and uninspired. The pace of growth and innovation had come to a crawl and had even been surpassed by the younger civilisation of Mu and the younger still Atlantis. Their lives were steeped in archaic rituals and ceremonies, most of which served no purpose beyond inherited habits of the ancestors. And yet the lands were still rich and splendid. Neither the humans of Atlantis, nor the naacal of Mu, had sought to conquer the decayed kingdoms of Lemuria and so the people continued to live as they always had, without external stimulus for change or improvement. The land was broken into nine territories, eight ruled as patriarchies and the ninth as a matriarchy. Ever since the great emperor of Lemuria, Emperor Sengon, had divided his empire between his nine children, the kingdoms have generally remained in tact, though the crowns would often change hands between rulers. They never engaged in warfare. Instead the kings kept trying to bed the wives, daughters, nieces and cousins of the rival king's family and thus create his own heir in that family and usurp his rival. For some reason, this was considered completely acceptable behaviour for the royal families, even if not for the subjects of the kingdoms, and might lead to a king's wife becoming pregnant by her husband's rival and be completely open and honest about the affair. This child was never considered illegitimate and was de facto heir to the throne, meaning the next son would inherit the land of his true father's rival. Assuming he survived the assassination attempts made by his half-brothers, the younger brothers presumably between the existing king and his wife. Due to the ancient and cemented rules the king himself wasn't able to kill the bastard child but his own sons were legally able. This often led to the 'Great Game' of Lemurian royal families trying to keep these usurpers alive, sometimes hiding them away or sometimes giving them for adoption until the date their throne could be inherited. The only kingdom exempt from this was the nation of Kumari Kandam. This was because it was a queendom, always ruled by a woman, and the queen's suitors were always chosen from the lowest class of society. Normally it was a humble farmer who became the queen's consort, but bakers, street sweepers, cart drivers and sanitation workers were also known to be elevated. The queen's consort was a job for life and he was treated as a precious object by the queen. Should they have sons, those sons were not in line for the throne and would be married off to other noble houses of Kumari Kandam to form political alliances. Many sons would often choose to leave the queendom and travel to the other kingdoms of Lemuria as ambassadors, or even to other civilisations of the world like Atlantis. Daughters, on the other hand, were in line for the throne and they were taught everything about ruling, politics and even warfare - just in case it ever did occur. It was to Kumari Kandam that Salacia brought Leto. Many centuries ago the queendom had founded three great centres of literature and learning, known as the Three Sangams. It was these Three Sangams that gave Kumari Kandam an edge over its rival kingdoms and gave its people their own sense of identity and culture unique to their own provinces. They were founded using magi-tech and were meant, even from their first conception, to be a symbol of Kumari Kandam's grandeur. Built upon three plateaus across the queendom, the magi-tech was then used to raise each plateau into sky as floating islands. Small, but grand, cities built up around the Three Sangams, riding on the back of the island, and many academies, schools and universities were found there. Students from across the world came to study at these institutions, bringing the queendom money and prestige. Salacia took Leto to the island of Tenmaturai. They reached the island via the teleporter, which transported bodies from one transporter pad to the other. No sooner were they on land than Leto's waters broke. Medical practitioners were already waiting for them and they were whisked to the medical teaching centre of the giant ziggurat, the Sangam itself. They had barely been in the room for a minute when Leto gave birth to her first child. It was a fully grown woman who seemed to fire out of Leto like a cannonball. Doctor: "What the fuck..." :O Salacia: "Gods! It happens." Doctor: "Okay. It's weird to give birth to a fully grown adult. But she's dressed in a toga and has a frickin' bow and arrows! How did--- you know what? Nevermind. I'll just write it down and let someone else figure it out." The woman did, indeed, wear a toga and have a bow and arrows. Her toga was blue and very short, like a mini-skirt toga, while her hair was brown and worn in dreadlocks. Around her head was a crown of leaves. Artemis: "Hello mother! I'm Artemis, god of hunting and the wilderness! Want me to go hunt you some deer to celebrate my birth?" Leto: "Hello Artemis! I'm pleased to finally meet you!" Doctor: "Why are you people acting like this is normal!? Am I tripping? Did that bastard in accounting slip me LSDLysergic acid diethylamide article, Wikipedia. again!?" Artemis rushed to Leto as her mother tried to sit up and made her lie back down. Artemis: "You shouldn't get up yet." Doctor: "I agree. Give it some time, let your body adjust. You just gave birth to... well something that doesn't even fit inside your entire body, let alone your womb." Artemis: "Actually, it's because you still have my twin brother in you!" Doctor: "Do you have, like, a pocket dimension inside your vagina?" At that moment, a man is fired out of Leto's body and he fell flat on the tiled floor. He jumped to his feet with as much excitement and enthusiasm as his mother had ever shown. He was young but extremely athletic in build with firm muscles on each limb. His face was smooth and his skin soft, his hair short and black. He, like his twin sister, wore a short toga but his was navy blue. Apollo: "Bark! Bark!" Artemis: "You're not a dog, Apollo." Apollo: "I'm not? What's a dog?" Artemis: "The thing that barks. Only they don't say bark, they make the noise." Leto: "What are you god of, Apollo?" Apollo: "Oh. This and that. Mostly I'm god of oracles, though! Do you want to know the future!?" Artemis: "No we don't." Apollo: "There's these things called cars and they go vroom, vroom! And there's these things people talk into and type on and ignore each other in person. And there's this handsome boy called Justin who is rubbish at singing but everyone loves him. I think he looks like me! So he's obviously handsome, right!?" Doctor: "I'm going to book myself an appointment with the psychiatrist..." Salacia: "What a happy ending! Two new gods and a happy mother! Leto, the queen gave permission for you to stay in Kumari Kandam if you'd like. I doubt Hera would let you live on Mount Olympus, after all!" Apollo: "Aww. Does that mean we can't be together?" Leto: "You can always visit me, Apollo!" Apollo: "Let me look into the future and make sure that's true!" His face blanched. Apollo: "You know you will die in forty years?" Salacia: "She's mortal, Apollo. That's what happens to mortals. They die." Apollo: "But they I really can't see you again!" Leto: "At least we'll have a lovely forty years, right?" Artemis: "Right! Now come and help me kill something, Apollo!" Apollo: "I'll turn myself into a rabbit and then you can kill the wolf and we can eat that!" Salacia: "Do humans eat wolves?" Apollo's visage twisted and morphed into a great, big tortoise. Artemis: "Apollo, that's not a rabbit." Tortoise (Apollo): "Mooooo! Moooooooooooo!" Artemis: "Tortoises don't moo. Neither do rabbits, for that matter." Tortoise (Apollo): "Maybe the future can tell me what noise tortoises make!" There was a tense moment of silence. Tortoise (Apollo): "COWABUNGA!!" Artemis: "Uh..." Doctor: "No! That's TurtlesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles article, Wikipedia.! They're not tortoises!" Tortoise (Apollo): "You can see the future too!!" Doctor: "What!? No! I mean, can I? I need to go lie down..." Notes Britt's Commentary "The general idea of this post was loosely based on the story of LetoLeto article, Wikipedia. and the birth of her twins ApolloApollo article, Wikipedia. and ArtemisArtemis article, Wikipedia. from Greek mythologyGreek Mythology article, Wikipedia.. This is also the first time that the ancient civilisation of Lemuria was expanded upon, also loosely based on the mythological land of LemuriaLemuria article, Wikipedia.. The floating islands were added to Kumari Kandam to suit the story of Leto, and between myself and Al Ciao the Writer it was decided they could be the locations of the ziggurats, which had been used in previous posts (post the land's sinking beneath the waves)." ~ Britt the Writer References External References Category:Post Category:Leg Post